2001 Slowdown in All of the Austrian States

The year 2001 was governed by a global cyclical downturn, which had its effect on all of the Austrian states. The economy showed signs of becoming quite sluggish, especially in the second half of the year, and the Austrian economy managed to add just 0.8 percent in output over the year. Growth variations across the states were quite minor, with the exception of the eastern region, which was kept back solely by the weak growth of business in Vienna: its output declined by 0.2 percent. In contrast, Burgenland achieved the highest gross value added (+2.5 percent), and Lower Austria similarly managed a clearly above-average performance over the year, even though its economy began to stutter seriously in the second half of the year. Western and southern Austria performed similarly (+1.1 and +1.0 percent, respectively), although again differences between the states were great: in the south, Styria grew much more dynamically (+1.4 percent) than Carinthia, the latter being affected by recessionary forces especially in the second half of the year, which made for an annual performance of just slightly over the previous year's level (+0.2 percent). In the west, Vorarlberg (+0.6 percent) and Salzburg (+0.5 percent) were outpaced by Tyrol (+1.4 percent) and Upper Austria (+1.2 percent). The cyclical pattern was determined primarily by trends in manufacturing. International developments had their greatest impact on export-intensive manufacturing, which found its production checked throughout Austria during the second half of the year. Nevertheless, the states remained relatively unchanged in their positioning between business cycle phases. Those that had experienced a less dynamic upswing of their manufacturing were facing above-average production declines (especially Vienna and Carinthia), whereas those that had enjoyed dynamic growth of their production were left to deal with a less dramatic reverse (especially Burgenland). In the western parts, growth variations in manufacturing were less striking: in spite of very close ties to the international economy, industries remained more stable than in the east. The situation was helped by an employment strategy which once again produced job growth, by more than 1.5 percent in the last six months of the year (with the exception of Vorarlberg). In contrast, industries in the eastern region (as well as those in Carinthia and Vorarlberg) only just managed to keep job rates steady when the economy slackened. The turndown impacted on the labour market in most regions. The majority of Labour Market Service districts recorded a substantial growth in the number of unemployed (+4.9 percent throughout Austria in 2001). The rate of unemployment rose by 0.3 percentage points, to 6.1 percent in the annual average (when calculated in the traditional manner). The rise was greatest in the eastern region (0.3 to 0.4 percentage points). As an annual average, the highest unemployment rates of 2001 continued to be recorded in Vienna (7.6 percent), Carinthia (7.6 percent) and Burgenland (8.2 percent). Joblessness remained lowest in the west (especially Upper Austria with 4.1 percent). Employment was a bit slow to respond to the setback, but by the end of the year job offerings were slightly reduced compared to the previous year. Most affected by the cut were male employees, who lost full-time jobs in manufacturing and construction. Seen across the year, the decline in employment was limited to Vienna and Lower Austria. Most western states saw their employment rates grow stronger than the Austrian average.